Phys.org news tagged with:asexualityhttp://phys.org/
en-usPhys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.Mystery of colourful giant plants of the subantarctic solvedThe mystery of why so many plants on New Zealand's otherwise bleak subantarctic islands have very large deeply coloured flowers and giant leaves has been solved by new University of Otago research.http://phys.org/news/2016-09-mystery-colourful-giant-subantarctic.html
Plants & Animals Fri, 16 Sep 2016 06:30:02 ESTnews393225741How honeybees do without malesAn isolated population of honeybees, the Cape bees, living in South Africa has evolved a strategy to reproduce without males. A research team from Uppsala University has sequenced the entire genomes of a sample of Cape bees and compared them with other populations of honeybees to find out the genetic mechanisms behind their asexual reproduction.http://phys.org/news/2016-06-honeybees-males.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 09 Jun 2016 14:00:18 ESTnews384695046Why did sex evolve? Prof Laurence Hurst exploresThe reason why, in terms of evolution, organisms have sex may seem rather obvious – they do it to reproduce. Clearly, natural selection must favour individuals who can reproduce over those who can't. But this is missing the point. For many species there is an alternative: asexual reproduction.http://phys.org/news/2016-03-sex-evolve-prof-laurence-hurst.html
Evolution Tue, 01 Mar 2016 08:40:04 ESTnews376042126Scientists prove key aspect of evolutionary theoryEvolutionary theory predicts that pairs of chromosomes within asexual organisms will evolve independently of each other and become increasingly different over time in a phenomenon called the 'Meselson effect'.http://phys.org/news/2016-01-scientists-key-aspect-evolutionary-theory.html
Evolution Tue, 26 Jan 2016 03:45:58 ESTnews373002346Virgin births may be common among snakesA new review provides intriguing insights on parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, in snakes.http://phys.org/news/2016-01-virgin-births-common-snakes.html
Plants & Animals Mon, 04 Jan 2016 16:13:05 ESTnews371146376Starfish that clone themselves live longerStarfish that reproduce through cloning avoid ageing to a greater extent than those that propagate through sexual reproduction. This is shown by a new research study in which researchers from the University of Gothenburg participated. The study has recently been published in the highly respected journal Heredity.http://phys.org/news/2015-06-starfish-clone-longer.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 25 Jun 2015 10:28:50 ESTnews354446912If you could clone yourself, would you still have sex?Imagine how easy life would be if you could produce offspring without a mate. Sexual reproduction is the most common mating system in the animal kingdom. But in many species, females do not require males to produce offspring –- they can reproduce asexually.http://phys.org/news/2015-02-clone-sex.html
Other Fri, 13 Feb 2015 08:40:02 ESTnews343036945Research affirms sexual reproduction avoids harmful mutations(Phys.org)—Sex or no sex? Using various species of the evening primrose (Oenothera) as his model, Jesse Hollister, a former University of Toronto post-doctoral fellow, and his colleagues have demonstrated strong support for a theory that biologists have long promoted: species that reproduce sexually, rather than asexually, are healthier over time, because they don't accumulate harmful mutations.http://phys.org/news/2015-01-affirms-sexual-reproduction-mutations.html
Evolution Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:32:28 ESTnews340273793Female termites found to clone themselves via asexual reproduction(Phys.org) —A pair of researches with Kyoto University has found how the queen of one species of termite, Reticulitermes speratus, ensures her genetic lineage continues by creating duplicate copies of herself. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Toshihisa Yashiro and Kenji Matsuura describe the study they carried out that showed how queens in such colonies reproduce themselves.http://phys.org/news/2014-11-female-termites-clone-asexual-reproduction.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Nov 2014 07:25:29 ESTnews336208955Calculating evolution: Program predicts the development of influenza virusesFor a long time, prognoses forecasting the evolutionary future of organisms were considered mere speculation. Together with researchers from Cambridge and Santa Barbara scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen have developed an algorithm that can predict the evolution of asexual organisms such as viruses or cancer cells. The researchers tested the programme for the first time on the historical development of the A/H3N2 influenza virus: retrospectively, the algorithm was able to determine the upcoming season's virus type with good or very good accuracy in most cases. In the near future, combining this approach with other methods could further increase the accuracy of the prognoses. Furthermore, the method developed by the researchers is not restricted to influenza viruses – it can even be applied to predict the development of HIV and noroviruses, as well as cancer cells.http://phys.org/news/2014-11-evolution-influenza-viruses.html
Evolution Wed, 12 Nov 2014 08:38:55 ESTnews335003925Researchers test whether Red Queen hypothesis makes species resilientIn Lewis Carroll's 1871 classic novel Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."http://phys.org/news/2014-05-red-queen-hypothesis-species-resilient.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 20 May 2014 16:52:51 ESTnews319823559Environmental complexity promotes biodiversityA new study published in the journal American Naturalist helps explain how spatial variation in natural environments helps spur evolution and give rise to biodiversity.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-environmental-complexity-biodiversity.html
Ecology Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:21:06 ESTnews298632005Fungal sex can generate new drug resistant, virulent strainsThough some might disagree, most biologists think the purpose of sex is to create diversity among offspring. Such diversity underpins evolution, enabling organisms to acquire new combinations of traits to adapt to their environment.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-fungal-sex-drug-resistant-virulent.html
Cell & Microbiology Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:00:04 ESTnews298047016Death by asexuality: Biologists uncover new path for mutations to ariseGround-breaking new research from a team of evolutionary biologists at Indiana University shows for the first time how asexual lineages of a species are doomed not necessarily from a long, slow accumulation of new mutations, but rather from fast-paced gene conversion processes that simply unmask pre-existing deleterious recessive mutations.http://phys.org/news/2013-09-death-asexuality-biologists-uncover-path.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:02:11 ESTnews297428505Diatom sex pheromone isolated and characterized(Phys.org)—Diatoms (unicellular photosynthetic organisms) reproduce through asexual cell division alternating with short periods of sexual reproduction. A German and Belgian team has now determined that pheromones play an important role in this. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they were able to isolate and structurally characterize one of these lures.http://phys.org/news/2012-12-diatom-sex-pheromone-isolated-characterized.html
Biochemistry Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:50:02 ESTnews274694220Researcher argues that sex reduces genetic variationBiology textbooks maintain that the main function of sex is to promote genetic diversity. But Henry Heng, Ph.D., associate professor in WSU's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, says that's not the case.http://phys.org/news/2011-07-sex-genetic-variation.html
Evolution Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:37:23 ESTnews229275413Girl power: Female boa constrictor doesn't need a maleIn a finding that upends decades of scientific theory on reptile reproduction, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that female boa constrictors can squeeze out babies without mating.http://phys.org/news/2010-11-girl-power-female-boa-constrictor.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:55:39 ESTnews208000526Study shows how ancient plants and soil fungi turned the Earth greenA new breakthrough by scientists at the University of Sheffield has shed light on how the Earth's first plants began to colonise the land over 470 million years ago by forming a partnership with soil fungi.http://phys.org/news/2010-11-ancient-soil-fungi-earth-green.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:16:32 ESTnews207918901Biologists identify influence of environment on sexual vs. asexual reproductionEvolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto have found that environment plays a key role in determining whether a species opts for sexual over asexual reproduction.http://phys.org/news/2010-10-biologists-environment-sexual-asexual-reproduction.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:40:01 ESTnews206277949Can clonal plants live forever?Despite the many cosmetic products, surgical treatments, food supplements, and drugs designed specifically to reverse the biological effects of aging in humans, long-lived aspen clones aren't so lucky. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown that as long-lived male aspen clones age, their sexual performance declines. http://phys.org/news/2010-08-clonal.html
Biotechnology Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:00:02 ESTnews201282464Asexual plant reproduction may seed new approach for agricultureAn HHMI scientist has moved a step closer to turning sexually-reproducing plants into asexual reproducers, a finding that could have profound implications for agriculture.http://phys.org/news/2010-03-asexual-reproduction-seed-approach-agriculture.html
Biotechnology Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:36:30 ESTnews187274177Rotifers avoid sex for millions of years by blowing away(PhysOrg.com) -- They haven't had sex in some 30 million years, but some very small invertebrates named bdelloid rotifers are still shocking biologists - they should have gone extinct long ago. Cornell researchers have discovered the secret to their evolutionary longevity: these rotifers are microscopic escape artists. When facing pathogens, they dry up and are promptly gone with the wind.http://phys.org/news/2010-01-rotifers-sex-millions-years.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:00:11 ESTnews183909443Study shows value of sexual reproduction versus asexual reproductionLiving organisms have good reason for engaging in sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction according to Maurine Neiman, assistant professor of biology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and researcher in the Roy J. Carver Center for Genomics.http://phys.org/news/2010-01-sexual-reproduction-asexual.html
Evolution Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:44:34 ESTnews183318256Ant has given up sex completely, researchers sayThe complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has been confirmed by a team of Texas and Brazilian researchers.http://phys.org/news/2009-08-ant-sex.html
Plants & Animals Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:26:13 ESTnews170493929Study finds role for parasites in evolution of sexWhat's so great about sex? From an evolutionary perspective, the answer is not as obvious as one might think. An article published in the July issue of the American Naturalist suggests that sex may have evolved in part as a defense against parasites.http://phys.org/news/2009-07-role-parasites-evolution-sex.html
Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:32 ESTnews166118400Birds do it, bees do it; termites don't, necessarilyScientists at North Carolina State University and three universities in Japan have shown for the first time that it is possible for certain female termite "primary queens" to reproduce both sexually and asexually during their lifetimes.http://phys.org/news/2009-03-birds-bees-termites-dont-necessarily.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:28:17 ESTnews157296458